Her two eldest sons were killed in the Greyjoy Rebellion. Balon Greyjoy surrendered his and Alannys' only surviving son Theon, then aged 10, as a hostage as punishment for the uprising and to ensure there would be no other ones. Ned Stark volunteered to raise Theon as his ward in Winterfell.[2]

Alannys is not present when Theon returns to Pyke on a mission to create an alliance between his father and Robb Stark.[3]

When Yara is pleading with Theon to abandon his attempt to hold Winterfell, and that he must return to Pyke, she says they are connected as they both loved their mother. The mention of Alannys makes Theon upset and look away.[4]

Family tree

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, her marriage to Lord Balon Greyjoy and the children they had remains the same except Yara is named Asha. Because the island of Harlaw is the wealthiest of the Iron Islands, House Harlaw is one of the few ironborn families that approach the Greyjoys in strength and influence. She has an older sister Gwynesse, who was widowed by the Greyjoy Rebellion, and a younger brother Lord Rodrik Harlaw known as Rodrik the Reader. Her brother refers to her by the pet name "Lanny."

Alannys was devastated by Theon being taken hostage and the deaths of her two eldest sons in the Greyjoy Rebellion, and began wandering the halls at night shrieking out their names. She had five ironborn boys brought to be fostered at Pyke after Ned Stark brought Theon to Winterfell including Tristifer Botley, a childhood love of Asha's.

When her psychosis worsened, she left Pyke to retire to the Ten Towers, her family's seat on the island of Harlaw. Thus she is not present at Pyke when Theon returns to see his father. Asha briefly visits her mother before leaving to conquer Deepwood Motte in her part in Balon's invasion of the North. During the visit Alannys constantly asks about Theon who she thinks of as perpetually ten years old, his age when he was taken hostage. Asha feels she no longer knows her mother though she is kind to her and answers her questions patiently. Asha meets Tristifer Botley at Ten Towers who informs her that he still only loves Asha. He has asked and received Alannys' consent to marry Asha though Asha rejects the proposal.

Alannys has long white hair. She "never had the sort of beauty the singers cherished, but her daughter had loved her fierce strong face and the laughter in her eyes", although Asha now finds Alannys' eyes dim and cloudy.